Mystery of the Cul-de-sac
by Canoe98
Summary: Ed, Edd, and Eddy moved to Crystal Cove for the summer. Once they arrived, the trio wandered through a neighborhood and ran into Scooby and the gang. After escaping a monster from a strange mansion, the Eds join the gang in uncovering the hidden secrets within the house's walls. Following a series of clues, they soon realize that the mystery is much more sinister than they thought.
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

The Mystery of the Cul-de-sac

(Edit): Sorry, I had to reupload the chapter because there was something weird that happened with the document. Sorry, but everything should be fine now. 

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to either of these shows or franchises; Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated and Ed, Edd, n Eddy are owned solely by their creators.

Author's Note: This story is not going to be based on or follow any episodes depicted in the shows, but there may be small references to certain characters or events in the shows.

**Chapter 1: The Beginning**

Double d's eyes fluttered open, wiping away the memories of any previous dream he had and replaced with the sudden realization of reality; still somewhat groggy and sleep deprived, Double d glanced around to scan his surroundings. It was obvious he was in a plane – the window directly next to him revealed the distant ground bellow and the nonchalant white clouds that whipped by. Starting to remember where he was, and also that he was deathly afraid of heights, Double d tore himself away from the glass window, now glancing at the other individual he was sharing the isle with. Next to him sat a disgruntled Eddy, who was lazily flipping through the magazines that were provided on the trip. The majority of the pages were composed of words with little pictures gracing paper; it was probably the reason why Eddy seemed so utterly bored.

Noticing that Double d had awoken, a small look of excitement crossed his face – possibly because he hadn't spoken to someone in hours.

"Rise and shine, sleepy-head," Eddy said in a somewhat mocking tone, although he was truly grateful that he finally had some actual company during the trip.

Double d blinked, forcing his mind to recall the reason for him being in a plane of all places; the events of the past soon began to flood back into his head until he regained a state of clarity.

He, Ed, and Eddy were all taking a trip to California, a 5 hour ride by plane. A couple of weeks ago, his mother had approached him with an offer to attend a program that provided education to various students across the U.S; only a select few number of students, chosen for their academic advancement, were given this opportunity, and it allowed students to attend certain educational institutions of their own choice from a list of schools. There was one particular school that stood out to Double d the most. It was 'Crystal Cove High School', a school well-known for its strong math and science courses. Eagerly, the beanie-wearing teen chose the school, completely sold on its math and science department; although Double d disliked plane rides for the most part, he was willing to go through the torment – especially since the program was paying for the traveling expenses. This was going to take place during the summer, so Double d was a little bit sad that he had to sacrifice his time with Ed and Eddy; that was until his mother told him that she had a cousin who lived in California and would be willing to let him stay there for the summer. Asking mainly out of curiosity, Double d wondered if it would be possible for Ed and Eddy to come along. His mother hesitantly thought about it, but in the end she finally agreed. So, a few weeks later, after going through the trouble of convincing Ed and Eddy's parents to let them leave, the three Eds embarked on a 4 to 6 hour trip to California.

Finally remembering all the details, Double d glanced at the time on his watch – it read 4:10 pm (Pacific time). Doing the math in his head, knowing that the plane left at about 11:30am, he concluded that they should be nearing the end of the trip within the next 30 minutes. His estimation was confirmed when, moments later, the pilot's voice erupted from the speakers stating: "attention everyone, we are nearing the end of the flight; we should be arriving in roughly 15 minutes. Please prepare to gather your belongings and we'll be finished soon. Thank you for flying with –"

Double d's attention was cut off when he felt something touch the back of his head; turning around to face the source of whatever rubbed against him, he realized that there was nothing there. Hearing soft snickers and restrained laughter, Double d chuckled to himself.

"I know it's you, Ed," he said with confidence in his voice, which seemed to cause the laughing to stop.

Ed revealed himself out from behind Double d's seat with a disappointed face.

"How'd you know it was me?" the large Ed questioned.

"To my knowledge, Ed, you're the only one who was sitting behind me," he stated factually.

"Oh," Ed said in response, scratching his head as he attempted to follow his friend's logic; while Ed was busy in thought, Double d's attention was pulled by Eddy calling his name.

"Yo, Sock-head, take a look at this," he said as he shoved an open magazine in Double d's face.

Calmly taking the article from Eddy's sweaty hands, Double d composed himself and proceeded to read the series of words that graced the page.

The article was small; more like a literary section that covered merely a fourth of the page. The title of the article, written in haunting green letters was 'Mystery Incorporated: Hoax or not?' To the bottom-right of the section was an image of about four teenagers (about his age) with a large dog by their side. Scanning through the article, Double d was surprised to see the word 'Crystal Cove' among the assortment of letters and characters. The article discussed a small group named 'Mystery Incorporated' that investigated various paranormal events and/or happenings; it briefly stated that they would occasionally (and accidentally) catch legitimate criminals in their investigations, but their vast body of work never included any true paranormal discoveries. The implication of the article was that Mystery Incorporated, although doing a lot of good, was based on many false claims of paranormal activity and that this reflected negatively on the group as a whole.

After reading the article, Double d glanced over at Eddy, confused by why he gave him the article.

Immediately seeing that his friend was confused, Eddy decided to just tell Double d what he thought of the article.

"Dude, the guys in the magazine are pure genius! Imagine being so good at scamming people that you get a freaking article written about you; don't you wanna know how much money they make by faking the whole 'ghosts are real' bullshit?"

Double d rolled his eyes – now he sees why Eddy wanted him to read the article.

Before Eddy could get another word in, however, the pilot's voice resumed on the intercom: "Alright everyone, we have safely boarded. Please watch your step on the way out and have a good day."

Once the voice on the intercom ended, people on the plane finally started to move; some people stood up to get their luggage from the overhead compartment while others merely stood up to stretch. The next few minutes were pure mayhem as people pushed past each other in an effort to exit the plane; among the endless chatter of people saying 'excuse me' and 'pardon me', the three teens quietly made their way off the plane after grabbing their luggage. Traversing the long boarding hallway that led to the primary airport complex, the three Eds emerged from the thin corridor and into the large open space of the building. Although the area was quite spacious, which could largely be contributed to the high ceilings, the building was by no means empty. The busy hallway was flooded with people, some going in opposite directions and others in a hurry to catch their flight; small food courts were open on both sides of the hallways, catering to people left and right. In the immediate vicinity of the Eds was a large sitting area where people would sit and wait – either for their flight to board or to meet someone getting off of the plane.

A man sitting in one of the seats looked up from a newspaper he was reading, possibly playing a crossword puzzle, and happened to spot the three teens. Taking his time to set the newspaper down, the man stood up from his seat and slowly approached the Eds. The man had a thick, black mustache that contrasted his somewhat light-colored skin; his shoulders were wide and stocky as well as his chest which was slightly puffed out. A cowboy-like hat rested atop his graying hair and cast a dim shadow on his forehead.

"Hey… are you…ummm…Edward Marion?" the man asked as he briefly glanced at a piece of paper in his hand; the man quickly tried to hide the paper, but it was already quite obvious that he had been reading from it.

"Oh, why, yes, that's me," Double d responded in a respectful tone.

"Hey, how's it goin'? Name's Sheriff Bronson Stone, but you can just call me 'Sheriff'," the man said.

"I see, you're a Sheriff then, I suspect. At least in terms of occupation, anyway," Double d stated.

"What's your real name?" Eddy suddenly questioned, giving the man an untrusting glare.

"Sheriff. My real name's Sheriff," he angrily said after a few moments of silence.

It became somewhat awkward before Sheriff resumed speaking to ease the tension.

"Can I help you with your bags?" he offered, already reaching for the Eds' luggage.

The three teens agreed and slowly followed the man as he led them through the hallways, past the crowds of people, and to the exit. Emerging from the building and stepping out into the evening air, Sheriff Bronson led the group out to a parking lot that was at least half-full. After walking up to a parked car and struggling with the keys a little bit, Sheriff Bronson opened the trunk up to place the bags there; he then motioned for the Eds to get in the car and soon after got in as well. The car engine then roared to life as the vehicle pulled out of the parking lot and onto the nearest road, headed for the highway.

**End of Chapter 1**

_Author's Note: Hey, guys, I'm 110% aware that I haven't been doing much writing recently, but it's not what you think – unless you think I'm just lazy, in which case you're completely correct. I'm supper susceptible to writer's block, so when I hit a creative roadblock I usually just stop. That being said, I would like to know what you think of this story so far: is it good? Is it bad? Or is it just ehhh? Please let me know in the comments – I need feedback to live!_

_By the way, the next few chapters won't have an author's note cuz I wrote them all at once and I didn't wanna add more than I had to._


	2. Chapter 2: The New House

**Chapter 2: The New House**

The car ride didn't last very long; in fact, to Double d it couldn't have been any more than 10 minutes or so. The vehicle pulled up to a relatively average looking house – neither too large or too small for it to be noticeable. The house was surrounded by other homes that practically looked identical to it, aside from some very slight variations. As they drove up the driveway, the Sheriff clicked a button in the car that activated the garage door. Slowly moving upwards in a mechanical motion, the door finally reached the top of the now fully open garage; taking his time, Sheriff Bronson carefully moved the car deeper into the garage as he made sure his path was clear.

After parking the vehicle and grabbing the luggage from the trunk, beckoned for the teens to follow him into the house. Ed was the first to exit the car, quite excited to be in someone else's house aside from his friends'; Eddy followed his large friend out of the car, glancing unimpressed at his surroundings. Double d was the last one to emerge from the vehicle, somewhat surprised by the quaint nature of the dwellings.

Forcing his way through the door that led from the garage to the inside of the house, Sheriff Bronson seemed to struggle with the weight of the bags in his hands but refused to say anything. The Eds closely followed the struggling man through the door and looked around. The first thing that they saw when they entered was a kitchen; grayish-brown floor tiles decorated the ground, and speckled marble counters sat atop the cream colored wood that made up the rest of the room.

The room was relatively clean, aside from a couple of dirty dishes that sat lifelessly in the sink. The group continued into house, making a left just before they got to the kitchen and walked into an open room that was probably the living room; traversing through the living room, the Sheriff and the three boys entered a small corridor with several doors on either side. Opening the first door that appeared in the hallway, Sheriff Bronson walked into a medium sized room with a large bed sitting in the middle of it. Quickly, and without hesitation, Bronson tossed the bags onto the bed and turned to face the boys.

"Alright, here you boys go; this is gonna be your room. However you guys will be sleeping here is up to you, ok? It's not my problem. If you need anything, just let me know, and I might do something about it….possibly…maybe….ok, I may not do anything but you get my point."

With that, the Sheriff walked to the door in preparation to leave but suddenly turned back around to address the teens once more.

"Oh, by the way," he began as he firmly gripped the door handle, "I'm going back on patrol tonight, so I probably won't get home until like 12:00 or something. If you guys get hungry, I've got food in the kitchen – just don't take any of the apple pie, I'm saving that."

He then closed the door, leaving the three Eds alone to stare at each other in silence. They listened to the distant sound of the garage door open and close as the car left the house. Now, the three of them were alone in someone else's house, in someone else's room, and in a completely different state – to be honest, it was just a really strange situation.

Eddy was the first to speak as he spread himself over the bed snow angel style.

"Go to California, 'it'll be fun' they said. 'You're sooooo lucky', they said. Well sorry to burst your bubble, but my idea of fun isn't waiting around while some cop goes on nightly patrol!"

Detecting his friend's obvious sarcasm, Double d started to speak up.

"Come on, Eddy; it's not that bad. Look at it this way, were are in a unique position that none of the other kids from Peach Creek have experienced. Just think of it Eddy, we're in a new place which contains within itself an endless possibility of adventure!"

Although Double d didn't have a personal interest in the idea of 'adventure', he knew that both Eddy and Ed would probably cheer up if they thought of it like that.

"Hey….you know what, you're right!" Eddy said with newfound confidence.

"That's the spirit, Eddy," Double d encouraged.

"A new place means new people," Eddy stated.

"Exactly!" Double d said enthusiastically.

"And new people means new suckers," Eddy snickered as he greedily rubbed his hands together.

"That's right! – wait a minute," Double d said, catching his friend's last comment, "Eddy, I hope you're not thinking what I think you're thinking."

"Just imagine it, Sockhead," Eddy mused as he rushed over to place his hand on Double d's shoulder, "there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are so gullible that it'll be the easiest thing in the world to take their money from them."

"Eddy, I do believe we've had this conversation before – you know, the moral wrongs that we'd be committing if we continued to engage in these kind of degenerative activities."

"Bah! Morality, smorality. Who cares as long as we get payed?" Eddy smugly said, completely ignoring Double d's point.

"As a matter of fact, what time is it, Double d?" Eddy asked, looking to his intelligent friend.

The beanie-wearing teen let out a long sigh and glanced down at his watch.

"It's 6:30pm," he informed.

Eddy let out a small chuckle before turning to face his friends, "Boys, we're going on a RGA tonight!"

"Yay! I love RGA's " Ed happily rejoiced.

"Ohhh, but Eddy, it's too late for an RGA," Double d complained.

A while back, in the group's younger days, Eddy asked Double d to come up with a way to make his schemes work better; Double d concluded that one of the first things to do was assess whether certain people would be gullible enough to fall for Eddy's schemes and then focus on those who were easier to trick. They would look for people who seemed like they were gullible and then Eddy would start the scheme. Double d named this process the RGA method – or the Regional Gullibility Assessment method. Although Eddy and Ed have no idea what those words meant, they still use the term RGA; Eddy likes to say it because it sounds official, and Ed just says it because he thinks it sounds funny.

Eddy reached in his backpack for a notebook, and, after realizing he didn't bring one, took one from Double d's bag.

"We'll write down the names of people who we think are stupid enough to fall for us so that we'll have a list of who to scam. Make sure you bring your coats, boys, it's chilly out there this time of night."

"But, Eddy –" Double d began before he was interrupted by a jacket being thrown onto his face.

"C'mon, Sockhead, a scheme waits for no man," Eddy bellowed.

"Are we gonna go outside, Eddy?!" Ed eagerly asked as Double d begrudgingly put on the jacket he was given.

"Of course we are, you dummy. What the hell do you think an RGA even is?" Eddy demanded.

With that being said, the three teens walked out of the room and headed for the front door; exiting the house and looking out, it was obvious that the sky had darkened considerably since they first arrived. The sun was still visible but only barely as the horizon worked to mask half of it from view. The retreating sun cast a red and orange hue into the sky that meshed with the blue and black of the oncoming night.

Following the sidewalk alongside the road, Ed, Edd, and Eddy wandered down the slightly curving road, passing several houses upon the way. It was common practice for the Eds to simply look at houses first before approaching any of them; identifying certain aspects about each house helped when picking and choosing who to scam.

After about an hour of walking or so, the trio encountered a cul-de-sac that seemed to mark the end of their nightly journey.

Double d sighed, partially out of relief and the other out of slight irritation.

"Well, it seems as though our voyage ends here. Come on now, Eddy, can we retreat back to the warmth of the house, please?" he asked.

"Wait, hold it, Sockhead; what the heck is that?" Eddy asked, pointing to a van that was parked in front of one of the houses in the cul-de-sac; in fact, it was the only house in the cul-de-sac.

Double d was slightly taken aback by how much the vehicle stood out. The van was decorated with curving green and blue designs on its side, and a few orange flower-like illustrations also seemed to grace the surface of the vehicle. In large orange letters, the same color as the flowers, the side of the van read 'Mystery Machine'.

**End of Chapter 2**


	3. Chapter 3: A Strange Meeting

**Chapter 3: A Strange Meeting**

The three teens starred in awe, and possibly some confusion, at the parked vehicle that read 'Mystery Machine' on its side. However, what was even stranger than the van itself was the fact that it was parked in front of a house that looked practically abandoned, aside from a stray cat that silently stood on the porch. The wooden panels that composed the outside of the house looked dry and worn out due to weather or any other external stimulus; the front lawn (if you could call it that) was a flat area of dirt that was thinly covered by the either dead or dying leaves that had long since lost their color.

A tall and somewhat foreboding fence perimeter was stationed along the outer ends of the property, intentionally keeping anybody from trespassing. An old, rusted gate was placed in an area between the fence posts, interrupting the continuous stretch of perimeter. Although the gate was just as large as its fence-like counterparts, the intimidating nature of it became close to nothing after the three teens realized that it was slightly open and unlocked.

Eddy was the first of the three to approach the metallic entrance, examining the reddish-brown rust that stained the otherwise black painted surface. After stopping at the gate, and slightly hesitating, the short Ed gently pushed the gate's door open even further and glanced at his surroundings. Leading all the way from his feet up to the wide and menacing front porch was a series of cobbled stones that were neatly packed together to form a thin walkway. The cobble-stone path cut through the dead leaves and dirt that made up the front porch, almost like it was slicing through the vary earth. Cautiously, Eddy beckoned for his other two companions to follow him as he slowly followed the path that lay before him.

"Eddy, may I ask what exactly it is we are doing?" a nervous Double d voiced.

Turning around, Eddy put a finger to his lips and said, "Sshhhhh! Put a sock in it, Sockhead."

"Haha! You said 'sock' two times, Eddy," Ed noted in his low, booming voice.

Grabbing a nearby pile of leaves with his bear hands, Eddy whirled around and stuffed the organic matter directly into Ed's open mouth, causing him to stop talking.

"Shut your trap, you idiot!" Eddy snarled, glaring back at an ignorant and gleeful Ed.

The three of them continued to approach the house, all the while taking slow and deliberate steps.

Suddenly, Eddy stopped right in his tracks and gave the two teens behind him worried looks.

"Did you guys hear that?" he questioned, scanning their faces in the hopes that one of them would confirm what he heard.

Instead, Ed and Double d both shook their heads in denial, although the ladder seemed to be getting much more uncomfortable with the current state of things.

The Eds continued walking until they finally got up to the front porch of the house; two tall wooden beams on either side of the porch's base were positioned underneath an large awning that loomed over the teens as they approached the door. Expecting to find a doorbell, Eddy was surprised to see nothing but more wood instead; letting out a sigh of mild irritation, the leading Ed raised his fist up to knock on the door but he froze almost immediately once he heard a sound coming from the inside of the house.

The sound was akin to someone yelling or screaming – it was a very high-pitched scream, but it was still obvious that the source of the noise was male. Then another sound occurred – a second one; this one, however, was much deeper in tone. The voices, or whatever they were, seemed to move quickly throughout the house, traveling from upstairs to the downstairs area. Eddy was shocked, as was evident by his surprised, confused, and horrified face. Taking his hand that he was going to use for knocking and instead cupping it to place it against the surface of the door, Eddy listened carefully to the sounds that continued to move about the building.

Suddenly, the voices sounded like they were getting closer to the door; closer, and closer, and closer, and closer, until – BAM! The door burst open, releasing two figures that tackled the three Eds to the ground. Everything happened so fast and the teens didn't have any time to react. They all found themselves on the floor of the front yard moments later, particles of dirt and dust came to rest on their clothes. Ed was the first of the trio to pick himself up from the dirty ground and brush the soil from his shirt and jeans.

Eddy was the second to recover, quickly followed by a still stunned Double d. The three teens glanced behind them at the two figures that bumped into them; immediately, the trio realized that one of the figures was an animal of some kind – a dog, in fact. The second figure was definitely a human; it was male, tall – about six feet in height, and seemed to have a somewhat slim build.

"Like, Scoob, what did we just hit?" the second figure said with a somewhat strained voice. By Double d's estimation, the person seemed to be about the same age as the Eds (perhaps older by only a small margin) and his appearance seemed to confirm this; the boy wore a long, green t-shirt that was draped over him and hung past his waist-line. His hair was scruffy and dirty-blonde, the front portion of which looped foreword in an effort to cover his forehead. The three Eds thought the situation was weird enough until the next thing they heard was enough to make them freeze.

"Ri ron't row, Raggy," replied a voice that came from the dog that sat next to the boy with the green shirt.

After hearing actual words leave the dog's mouth, the three teens stared open-jawed and in-shock at the animal in front of them. Ed was the quickest to recover after realizing how cool a talking dog really was; Eddy blinked a few times and had to rub his eyes just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Double d had it the worst – the world of rationale and logic seemed to spontaneously crumble around him; whatever grasp he thought he had on reality disappeared the moment the dog opened its mouth.

The boy and the dog hadn't quite realized they were being starred at until they both turned around; coming face to face with three random strangers was enough to send them into a terrified frenzy of hysterics.

Grabbing onto one another and holding each other tightly, the dog and the boy both let out horrified screams.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The combined shrieks of the two was enough to wake Double d from his mental breakdown and even cause Eddy to roughly cover his ears; the screams finally stopped once the dog and the boy realized they were in no danger, but the echo continued throughout the neighborhood.

"Jesus Freakin' Christ," Eddy commented, noting how insanely loud the screams were.

"O-oh, like, uhhh…sorry," the green-shirted boy apologized with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Like, who are you guys?" he continued to question as he pushed himself up from off the ground.

"I could ask you the same question," Eddy bluntly replied, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Oh, right! Sorry. Like, my name's Shaggy and this is my dog, Scooby Doo," he said as he gestured to the canine by his side.

"Rello!" the dog cheerfully greeted.

Double d stiffened a little – his body normally experiences strange reactions when he is presented with something that doesn't make sense to him, like the existence of mythical creatures, the idea of magic, pineapples on pizza, or TALKING DOGS!

Before Double d even had a chance to process anything, Ed extended his open hand to Shaggy in a friendly manner and said, "Hey, my name's Ed, and these two are my friends: Eddy and Double d! Say 'HI', guys!"

"Yeah, whatever," Eddy mumbled as he pushed Ed to the side and glanced at Shaggy, who didn't even have time to shake Ed's hand, "what's your problem, dude? Is your idea of fun bumpin' into people or somethin'? You literally knocked all of us down!"

Shaggy nervously swallowed before he replied, "Hey, man, like, me and Scoob are really sorry, but we were just trying to get away from the-"

"Ronster!" Sooby interrupted, pointing at the open doorway behind the Eds.

"Monster?" the three teens said in unison as they all turned around and looked back at the doorway.

There, walking towards the open doorway, was a shadowy figure.

**End of Chapter 3**


	4. Chapter 4: Mystery Incorporated

**Chapter 4: Mystery Incorporated**

The figure wasn't exactly large, but its build was quite intimidating; the shoulders were wide and denoted a sense of strength. The figure was shrouded in the darkness that loomed within the house, so any and all features, except for the silhouette, were completely hidden. The three Eds inched back away from the front door that the figure was headed for; Scooby and Shaggy remained in the same spot, trembling with each other out of fear. Suddenly, as the figure stepped out from the darkness and into the light, it said something with a tone that was unexpected.

"Shaggy, Scooby – are you guys all right?" it asked.

As the figure emerged from the shroud of darkness, more details were revealed; the figure was not what they expected – it was a blonde teen wearing a white shirt with a blue collar and blue jeans. The thing that surprised them the most was the fact that the teen had an ascot neatly tied around his neck. The blonde stopped once he saw all three of the Eds standing on the front lawn.

"Fred!" Scooby and Shaggy both shouted cheerfully out of relief.

Fred, although seemingly glad that his friends were ok, starred at the three teens in front of him questioningly. Before he could open his mouth and speak, he was interrupted by the murmurings of two other voices behind him that came from within the house. The two voices continued until two more figures emerged from the building.

The first to exit the house was a bright, orange-haired girl who swatted flies away from her face as she walked onto the porch; her body was thin and graceful – it was obvious she had an athletic build. She wore a purple dress that tightly hugged her form and stopped just before her knees. She had on pink leggings that led down to two purple shoes, and to top it all off - a green tie adorned her neck.

Eddy's eyebrows rose slightly at the sight of the girl, taken aback by her beauty.

As Eddy's eyes wandered up and down the girl's form, the second figure followed closely behind the girl and emerged from within the darkness of the house.

The second figure to exit the house was yet another girl, but she differed drastically from the first. This girl was a brunette with short, bang-like hair that came down to her cheeks; the form of her body was largely hidden by a thick, orange turtle-neck sweater that covered her entire upper body. A red-colored skirt came down to just above her knees, revealing a small amount of her lower thigh. Knee-high socks stretched up from a pair of red shoes that she wore. The girl had been busy cleaning a pair of glasses that she held carefully in her hand; realizing that everyone else had stopped, she placed the glasses back on her head and scanned the faces of the three Eds in surprise.

"Ummm, who are you?" the orange-haired girl asked, pointing a finger in the direction of the three teens.

"That's what I was gonna ask," Fred acknowledged.

"Daph, like it's ok, they don't mean any harm," Shaggy said.

Daphne didn't respond, but still continued to stare carefully at the trio before her.

"What are you kids doing here?" Fred asked.

"'Kids?! Who are you calling a 'kid', buddy?" Eddy said with gritted teeth.

"Well, whoever you are, I'm sure you're aware that this is private property, yes?" the girl with the glasses said.

"C'mon, Velma, I don't think they meant any harm," Shaggy pleaded.

"I'm sure you're right, Shaggy," Velma began, slightly pushing up her glasses with a finger, "however, intentional or not, they have broken the law and interfered with our investigation."

"'Investigation'?" Eddy retorted with an insulting tone of voice, "What are you guys – cops? Don't mess with me, you're all our age. And if this is private property, then why're you here."

"We were given explicit permission to be here from the owner of this house," Velma promptly retorted.

As the two teens continued to argue, Double d suddenly had an epiphany – remembering the article from the magazine that he read on the plane, coupled with the words "Mystery Machine" on the side of the van, and the fact that the girl just said the word "investigation" were all enough to lead Double d to one inescapable conclusion.

"You're Mystery Incorporated," he suddenly stated matter-of-factly.

Everyone turned to look at him, even Ed and Eddy gave him slight glances.

"Yep. Mystery Incorporated at your service," Fred said proudly as he placed his hands on his hips.

"Wait a minute….you mean the losers from the magazine?" Eddy snickered, "Lemme guess, you found some 'ghosts' in the house, am I right?" he teased.

Fred's jaw stiffened in obvious irritation at Eddy's humorous insults.

However, the Ed's laughing and mockery was soon cut short as a low and very unsettling growl emanated from within the house. Following the ominous noise was a series of heavy footsteps that echoed from within the building; the steps were slow, yet the weight of whatever was moving could be felt by the sharp vibrations from the ground.

"Zoinks! Like, it's the monster! Run for it!" Shaggy yelled as he and Scooby both sprinted back to the Mystery Machine.

Whatever was in the house hadn't yet revealed itself, but the rest of the gang wasted no time in following Shaggy and Scooby's lead. As the gang was leaving, Fred glanced over at the confused Eds who remained silent and whispered to them.

"Hey, if you guys want to live, follow us," he commanded; his voice was hushed, but there was still a sense of urgency that came from it.

Without saying much, the three Eds glanced at each other in silence before they trailed behind the Mystery solving group; the growls started to get louder as the group neared the parked van that sat in the cul-de-sac. Almost as soon as Fred ran around the vehicle and reached for the door handle, a monstrous roar erupted from the building that shattered the glass of the house's windows. The Eds now had a reason to be scared and the three of them quickened their pace towards the van. Eddy was the first to look back, and what he saw behind him made his blood run cold; there, making their way through the darkness, were a pair of glowing yellow eyes that seemed to pierce through Eddy's very soul.

It wasn't the eyes themselves that were terrifying, exactly – it was the fact that they were so high up from the ground that was unsettling. As the creature slowly stepped out from beyond the veil of shadows, the moonlight worked to illuminate the thick fur that covered its body. Long, sharp claws grasped at the edges of the doorway, digging themselves deep into the wood; a wide mouth also became visible, along with several pairs of teeth and fangs that lined the inside of it. Once the creature fully emerged, it's eyes locked dead on to the group of escaping teenagers; wasting no time, the beast crouched down and leapt foreword, using its arms and legs in unison to gallop towards the van. Eddy let out a horrified shriek after realizing how quickly the creature was gaining on them.

Shaggy and Scooby were the first of the group to reach the vehicle; they immediately opened up the back doors and leapt into the van out of fear. Fred was the second to get to the car, running around to the driver's side, opening the door, and jamming the keys into the ignition. Velma and Daphne followed closely behind; Daphne jumped into the passenger's seat next to Fred as Velma crawled into the back with Shaggy and Scooby. As the Mystery Machine roared to life, the three Eds ran for the back section of the car after noticing that the doors were still open. Velma poked her head out from the back and waved her hands in a desperate beckoning motion, signaling for the Eds to quickly jump into the back. Ed was the first one to hop in, followed immediately by a desperate Eddy who practically dove into the vehicle; Double d was the final one to enter, making sure to close the doors behind him.

"Alright, Fred, they're in – now, DRIVE!" shouted Daphne, to which Fred slammed his foot onto the gas pedal.

The creature was practically at the car by this point and thrust its long, hairy arm through the car's window, effectively breaking the glass. Double d was closest to the window and screamed as the creature's arm came inches away from swiping at his face. Realizing what the commotion was about, Fred turned the wheel as he hit the accelerator; the car swerved and bumped the creature to the side, causing it to slam down onto the road and roll on the asphalt. Once the creature was off, the Mystery Machine sped away, leaving the angered creature behind in its wake.

**End of Chapter 4**


	5. Chapter 5: Answers

**Chapter 5: Answers**

About 30 minutes had passed since the group escaped the beast from the house; Fred was still driving, but the van was now moving at a more modest pace. Lights from street lamps spilled into the vehicle at measurable intervals, but other than that, the inside of the car was quite dark. Eddy had been talking non-stop for the last few minutes, freaking out over what they had all just seen and being full of endless questions.

"Could someone please tell me what the actual f**k that was?!" he pleaded, desperately looking around at the faces in the van.

There was silence for a little while, but Velma eventually straightened up and sighed as she prepared a response to Eddy's question. She gave unsure glances to the rest of the gang, but proceeded to explain nonetheless.

"A little while ago, we were contacted for a job in regards to that house we just left; apparently, the owner has been experiencing some strange occurrences there. We were simply going to do a standard investigation – check the place for clues: fingerprints, foot prints, signs of a break-in, even possible motive for someone to scare the owner…"

[*FLASHBACK*]

The Mystery Machine slowly pulled up in front of the house, following the curve of the cul-de-sac; Fred looked out of the window and up at the large house that loomed above them.

"Well, gang, here we are," Fred said enthusiastically as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Geez, the house looks like it's about to collapse," Daphne commented, examining the state of the structure.

Velma, Scooby, and Shaggy exited the vehicle through the back and scanned the decrepit mansion with expressions of uncertainty.

"Fred, you have the key, right?" Velma asked, causing the blonde teen to pull out something from his back pocket.

The object was a key; it was somewhat plain looking, with little to nothing distinguishing it except a strange symbol that was engraved into the handle. The key was worn out, showing signs of scratches and old age; the color of the key was a faded red but seemed to look more like a lively brown.

The key was sent to the gang in an anonymous box, which also contained a note that read:

(488) 494 – 45

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

DSA:

16-22-2_18-8_26_24-15-6-22

Although the gang didn't quite understand what the rest of the message meant, they were fairly sure that the first set of numbers was a phone number. The letter was written by hand with ink on what looked to be a piece of lined paper that had been ripped out of something – possibly a notebook. The gang called the number and was met with a voice on the other end stating that he was the owner of a mansion that existed in Crystal Cove and wanted to hire Mystery Inc. for a job. The person on the other end of the phone sounded nice enough, he even offered to pay them for their time; the gang agreed to the job, but said that no money would be required until they could see the house for themselves. The voice agreed and told them the address of the mansion along with several other bits on information.

Now, here, in front of the house, the five mystery solvers slowly approached the old mansion, taking in its large structure and ancient aesthetic. Coming up to the front gate, which seemed to definitely be locked, Fred hesitantly inserted the key into a bolt that was part of the metallic frame. Slowly and carefully, he turned the key, listening to the creaking of the locking mechanism work to open the door; there was a slight jolt as the gate was released from the lock, allowing Fred and the others to enter the property. The hinges of the gate creaked and moaned as all five members of the group worked their way onto the cobble-stone path and up to the front door.

Using the same key, Fred opened the front door and beckoned for the rest of the gang to follow suit; they were all immediately thankful that they brought flashlights because the inside of the house was terrifyingly dark. Reaching in each of their pockets respectively, they all took out flashlights and turned them on as they examined the interior of the house; the first thing they noticed when they entered was a large portrait of a man that was positioned on a wall adjacent to them.

Flashing their lights on it, the gang illuminated the painted face of the individual in the picture. His eyes were grim and piercing as they looked foreword at the opposite wall; his nose was long and pointed downwards, leading to his mouth that was twisted into a grimace. The portrait itself required further examination as well; it was incredibly large, perhaps six feet tall at the least and seemed to reveal the whole body of the individual. He wore a long, dark robe that covered his feet and reached the very ground he stood on; his right arm was hidden beneath the fabric of the robe, but his other arm appeared to be holding a rolled-up scroll of some kind.

Believing that the portrait was unimportant (and honestly quite creepy), the gang continued to wander through the rest of the house. Eventually splitting up, as they usually do, the group decided to search different areas of the house in the hopes that they would find clues more quickly. They couldn't have been there for more than half-an-hour before the horrified shrieks of Scooby and Shaggy filled the mansion; alerted to the commotion, the rest of the gang reconvened in what could only be the living room as they searched desperately for their screaming friends.

"Where are they?" Fred asked, looking around, "they should be right here."

Fred was right, the frantic screaming of Shaggy and Scooby sounded like it was coming from the living room, but they were nowhere in sight; even though it was still dark in the house, it couldn't have been possible to miss a tall teen and a large dog, especially with the aid of flashlights. Suddenly, the gang heard the front door burst open and the howls of Shaggy and Scooby move outside; wasting no time, Velma, Fred, and Daphne all rushed to the front door. Fred was the first one there, peering out at the front lawn; Daphne and Velma both caught up seconds later and saw Shaggy and Scooby along with three strange boys – the Eds.

[*END OF FLASHBACK*]

Eddy stared expectantly at Velma, who merely returned his look with a blank expression.

Eddy held up his hands questioningly, "Wait…that's it?! Are you kidding me? You missed the part where there was a giant, hairy, f**king monster in the house!"

"Eddy, please calm yourself," Double d pleaded, realizing that the others were starting to get uncomfortable with his friend's aggressive behavior.

"I AM CALM, MOTHERF**KER!" Eddy screamed at the top of his lungs; he then roughly crossed his arms and turned his body away from the eyes that were on him.

There were a few seconds of awkward silence before Double d decided to ask a few questions of his own.

"ummm, forgive my friend's bluntness, but I must admit that I share his concern; were you truly unaware of the creature's presence in the house?" he asked.

"Yes, it may seem unlikely, but we had no idea that anything was in the house," Velma replied, thankful that Double d sounded like the most reasonable Ed in the group.

"Like,Yeah," Shaggy interjected, "besides, if we DID know a monster was in the house, like, we wouldn't have gone there in the first place."

Double d nodded in understanding; he didn't think that they were in any way responsible for what just happened, but the fact that a creature THAT big wasn't seen by them in the house was quite strange. Reaching for the notebook that was in his back pocket, Double d accidentally touched something that was on the floor of the van; picking it up and holding it in front of him, Double d was surprised to find a small patch of long, grey fur.

Turning it around and examining it, the intrigued Ed muttered to himself in fascination, "Interesting, Canis Lupus, perhaps?"

The question was meant more for himself than anyone else, but his sudden murmuring attracted the attention of Velma, who noticed the fur that he was holding.

"Is that fur from the monster?" she asked as she scooted closer to Double d to get a better look.

Double d's cheeks became slightly warm as she got increasingly close to him; there wasn't a whole lot of room in the back (especially for five humans and a dog), so in order to get a good look Velma had to practically press up against him. Double d was never the best when it came to being in close proximity with the opposite gender; he tended to start getting nervous and would sweat more often, so this time he tried his best to not freak out.

Leaning in closer and reaching for the fur, Velma looked at Double d, "Can I hold it?" she politely asked, to which the nervous Ed replied, "O-of course, go ahead."

Gently taking the clump of hair from his somewhat sweaty fingers, Velma took out a large magnifying glass; after turning on the back section lights in the van, she held the magnifying glass up to the fur and examined it closely.

"Whatcha got, Velm? Anything important?" Fred asked from the driver's seat without turning around.

"Well," Velma began as she took her time inspecting the animal hair, "it appears to be the fur of 'Canis Lupus' – the grey wolf. Given the unique hue of grey and shape of the fur, I'd say the wolf has reached maturity."

"'Maturity'? Duh! That thing was like seven feet tall," Eddy said – he had been listening the whole time, but it was mainly because he wanted answers.

"That was a stunningly well-informed conclusion," Double said to Velma, ignoring Eddy's comment.

"Oh, well…thank you," Velma said in response, not really used to such praise.

"C'mon, there's gotta be more," Eddy groaned, "Sockhead, can't you tell me anything actually useful from that fur?"

"Well, Eddy, I'm afraid that she already stated the most important observations to be drawn from what we have. The only thing I would add is: given that the creature we escape from was obviously no mere grey wolf (due to the size), I would entertain the plausible idea of enhanced genetic mutation; the beast seems to share aspects similar to Canis Lupus such as the features of its fur and eye color, however, given what we know about a standard grey wolf, we must conclude that the creature seems to deviate drastically from the '_Canis'_ species due to some unknown cause."

Just as Double d finished his sentence, a pair of blue and red lights suddenly shined from behind the van – a police siren soon followed it. The members of the Mystery gang sighed out of annoyance.

"Not him again," Fred moaned as he pulled the Mystery Machine over to the side of the road.

"What? Who is it," Double d asked, slightly nervous.

"Sheriff Bronson," the gang said in unison.

"Hey, Double d, isn't that the guy who took us to his house?" Ed said with a confused face.

"uh oh," Double d muttered.

**End of Chapter 5**


	6. Chapter 6: Close Call

**Chapter 6: Close Call**

The Mystery Machine remained fully parked as Sheriff Bronson Stone got out of his police car and doors behind him. The gang remained silent as the Sheriff approached the vehicle, but Double d was practically having a meltdown in the back.

"Shhhh. Quiet down," Daphne hushed, "if you don't make any noise, he won't check the back."

Realizing that his whimpering might give them away, Double d placed both of his hands over his mouth in the hopes that it would stifle the noise. Several seconds later, Sheriff Bronson walked up to the side of the van and knocked on the reflective window; in response, Fred rolled down the window and greeted the man.

"How's it goin', Sheriff? Nice night for a drive, isn't it," Fred said with a youthful smile.

After removing a pair of shades he was wearing, Sheriff Bronson stared blankly back at the teen, scanning his face for any signs of deception.

"You guys are going for a drive THIS late at night? How stupid do you think I am?" he demanded.

Fred shrugged his shoulders and opened his mouth to respond before the Sheriff immediately held up his hand in protest, "don't answer that."

He then glanced past Fred and at Daphne in the passenger seat, who waved at him and gave him a polite smile. Sheriff Bronson simply let out a grunt in response and began to make his way back to his car, "Don't go making any trouble you kids – cuz more trouble equals more paperwork for me."

Double d listened to Bronson's footsteps fade away, and he let out a sigh of relief. As the Sheriff passed behind the Mystery Machine, he happened to glance at the broken window in the back.

"How did that happen?" he asked, lifting up the rim of his hat as he inspected the damage.

"Oh, that? Pffffft! It's nothing, I just…uhhhh…had an accident is all," Fred struggled to explain.

"An accident, huh, was this 'accident' also responsible for the claw marks on the back of your vehicle?" he asked in obvious disbelief.

"uhhhh….yes?" Fred replied nervously.

As Double d listened to the conversation, he became more and more convinced that the Sheriff was going to check the back of the van, so he did the one thing that came to mind that could save them. Pulling out his phone, Double d started viciously texting something on the device. Sheriff Bronson slowly started walking towards the shattered back window, all the while peering through the hole it made into the vehicle. He continued to get closer to the van; he was now maybe an arm's length from looking in all the way, until he suddenly felt something vibrating in his pocket. Pulling out his phone and glancing at something on the screen, the Sheriff silently cursed under his breath.

"You kids are lucky this time," he muttered, turning back around and heading to his car, "I have more urgent matters to attend to."

With that, he stepped back into his car and turning his police lights back on as he sped off into the night.

Double d let out another sigh of relief, but this time it was much more appropriate.

"Wow, what exactly did you just do?" Velma asked; she had watched Double d type something into his phone seconds before the Sheriff received a text and left.

"Uhhh, I texted him 'come home quick, I broke something'" Double d replied.

Seeing the confused reactions of the teens in the van, Double d knew what was wrong and he continued to explain.

"I'm – er, WE'RE – staying over at Sheriff Bronson's house this summer; he's my mom's cousin, so he agreed to having us stay with him," Double d announced, although he felt somewhat awkward about it. The gang then all nodded in understanding.

"Wait, if he's headed home, then won't he expect you guys to be there?" Velma wondered, prompting Double d to nod his head nervously.

"Well lucky for you guys, I know where Sheriff Bronson lives," Fred bragged.

"Ok, that's really creepy, dude," Eddy said.

"Another lucky thing is that I happen to know a short cut to get to his house. Hang on!" Fred yelled as he slammed on the gas and accelerated down the empty street.

Making a sudden left-hand turn into a surprisingly thin alleyway, the Mystery Machine sped between two buildings; things moved passed the van in a blur, and the bumpy road caused the car to jolt up and down. After exiting the thin alley, Fred made an astonishingly sharp turn to the right, passing through a short tunnel that led out to an open park area. Still moving at dangerously high speeds, the Mystery Machine zoomed through an intersection with a light that was about a millisecond away from turning red.

The road soon began to curve, and the accelerating vehicle was moving so fast that the two right wheels actually left the ground at some point; everyone in the Mystery Machine felt the van rotate slightly, especially Double d who was easily susceptible to motion sickness. Reacting quickly, Fred moved the stick shift and stepped on the brakes causing the car to automatically slide and swerve into a parallel park next to a curb.

Turning around, Fred addressed the people in the van, "You guys ok back there?" he said with a grin.

Double d was almost at the point of vomiting, and somehow Ed had fallen on top of a furious Eddy.

"Jesus! Who taught you how to drive – a crash test dummy?" he exclaimed as he tried to push an unharmed Ed off of him.

After opening the back doors, the three Eds stumbled out of the van, still somewhat dazed.

"Thank you…very much…for…the ride," Double d said, desperately trying to keep himself from throwing up.

"Sure thing," Fred said with a wave, "Stay safe guys. Now, we gotta get outta here before the Sheriff gets home. Later!" With that, the Mystery Machine along with the gang drove off into the distance.

The three Eds watched the van leave until it completely vanished from sight; they then all headed toward the house and opened the front door. After they entered the house and closed the door behind them, the teens all let out sighs of relief in unison – it had been an extraordinarily long and strange day, and the Eds were truthfully all ready to go to bed. Tired and sleepy, they all made their way back into their rooms and settled in.

Eddy fell onto the bed with his face buried into the pillow and his hands by his sides. Ed followed Eddy's lead – only instead of falling onto the bed and into the pillows, he fell face first onto the floor. Double d considered brushing his teeth, but in all honesty, he was way too tired for that. Just as things were beginning to settle down, the front door opened with such force and ferocity that it startled them all into a panicked frenzy.

"All right, you brats! Where are you and what did you break?!" Sheriff Bronson's voice boomed throughout the house.

Now they were all awake. They had been too tired to think about what they would do once he got home. Thinking quickly, Eddy grabbed a random pencil that sat in a brass container along with other writing utensils and snapped it in two. The Sheriff angrily burst into their room, seething with rage; if the Eds didn't know any better, they could've sworn that steam was coming out of his ears.

"What…did…you…break?" he questioned through gritted teeth.

"Uhhh…we broke this pencil, see?" Eddy said as he nervously presented the snapped piece of wood in his hands.

Bronson looked down at the pencil, then up at the teens, then back down at the pencil again.

"That's it?" he said, gesturing to the pencil.

All three Eds nodded their heads at his question.

"Phew! You kids had me going there for a second," he said with a chuckle, grasping his chest as a sign of relief, "I thought you might've broken something important – you know, like the whole 'house' or something."

The teens gave each other silent glances as he spoke.

"Well, anyways, goodnight, and…uhhh, try not to break any more pencils," he said as he gently closed the door on his way out.

The three Eds all let out one final sigh in unison before returning back to their respective sleeping positions; Eddy and Double d both shared the bed while Ed was given a mattress that lay on the floor. Turning off the lights was easy, mainly because the only source of light in the entire room was one solitary lamp that sat on a nightstand to the side of the bed; grabbing a hold of the lamp chain that dangled just below the shade, Double d lightly tugged on it until the light turned off – thus marking the end of the night.

**End of Chapter 6**

Author's Note_: Hey, my dudes, it's me again. So, I've been thinking of different ways that I could make this story interesting, and I've tried to add many elements of an actual mystery that I could think of. Because I'm not an experienced writer, some of the clues may not be well established, but I'll try to do my best. If you guys like how this story is going so far (or even if you don't), please leave comments. I cannot stress this enough – I need feedback to survive._


	7. Chapter 7:First Day at Crystal Cove High

**Chapter 7: First Day at Crystal Cove High School**

The arrival of morning was steady, and thin beams of sunlight broke through the window blinds and landed on the surface of the bed. Eddy's rigid eyelids slowly opened, exposing him to the brightness of the thin cracks of light that landed directly on his face; sitting up in the bed and letting out a long yawn, Eddy stretched his arms as he looked around the room. It was in the same state they had left it in last night, except, now, natural light seemed to seep into the space and illuminate each corner of the area. Looking to his right, Eddy realized that, despite expecting to see a sleeping Double d, the other side of the bed was empty.

Moving his weight to shift his body, Eddy leaned over the other side of the bed and caught a glimpse of a snoring Ed who tightly hugged his pillow. Glancing at a clock that sat over on the night stand, Eddy read "7:15 am" in red, digital numbers. Slipping off of the bed and onto the floor, the tired teen smacked his lips in an attempt to wet his dry mouth as he headed for the bathroom. The bathroom was located in a small room that existed on the other side of the narrow hallway; exiting the bedroom and traveling a few feet down the hall, Eddy grabbed a hold of the doorknob to the bathroom and pulled.

Taking a few steps into the bathroom, Eddy was slow to realize that Double d was in the process of brushing his teeth, glancing at himself in the mirror as he held the toothbrush.

Turning to face Eddy almost immediately, the beanie-wearing teen let out a small shriek of surprise.

"Ahhhh! Eddy, does it hurt you to knock?" he asked in evident irritation.

Ignoring the rhetorical question, Eddy looked confusingly at his friend, "What the heck are ya doin' up so early?" he asked, genuinely curious as to what his fellow teen was doing.

"Oh, come now, Eddy; didn't I tell you already? My first day of the program at Crystal Cove high school starts today at 8:30am sharp," Double d responded.

"8:30? That's literally in like an hour. You have so much time," he said.

"Tut, tut, Eddy. Remember: 'the early bird gets the worm'," Double d scolded, pointing his finger disapprovingly at his short friend.

"…whatever," Eddy said as he turned around and headed back to the bedroom, "just let me know when you get outta the bathroom. I gotta take a leak really bad."

Double d gave a silent acknowledgement as Eddy swiftly closed the door to the room. Several minutes later, Double d entered the bedroom and walked over to grab his backpack that he had pre-prepared several days before they all left for the trip. Eddy and Ed, who had woken up not too long ago, stared at Double d – specifically, they stared at what he wore. Instead of his standard red shirt and purple shorts, Double d now adorned a dark green vest over a white-collar dress shirt that was accompanied by a red tie; long jeans covered his legs and led down to his normal sneakers.

"I thought you were going to a high school, not a church," Eddy joked.

Ed snickered at Eddy's humor and suddenly stood up; taking his jacket off and walking over to Double d, the smiling Ed held out the piece of clothing as if it were an offering of some kind.

"Here, Double d, you can wear THIS so people won't look at you funny," he said.

Double d carefully examined the food stains that adorned the jacket, the torn areas on the ends of the sleves, and he even took a slight whiff of the material. Retreating away from the clothing in slight disgust, Double d gave his friend a small smile.

"Well, I'm actually quite fine as I currently am now, Ed, so I'm afraid I can't accept this. Thank you for trying though, it's very nice of you," the teen said, hoping Ed wouldn't push any further.

Ed simply said, "ok," and slipped back into his jacket.

Taking a glance at the clock, that now read "7:27 am", Double d hastily put on his backpack.

"So, is Sheriff 'I-wear-shades-for-no-reason' Bronson gonna drive you to school or something?'," Eddy asked.

"I'm afraid not, Eddy, there's no need for that," Double d began as he headed for the front door, "Crystal Cove High School has one of the best student transportation systems in this region of the country, I've heard. Very soon, a bus shall arrive and escort me directly to the school."

"You know, you could've just said 'I'm taking a school bus'," Eddy pointed out.

After reaching the front door, Double d wished his friends a good day before walking down to the sidewalk and heading further down the street. The school buses had specific points throughout the neighborhood where they would stop and pick up students. The point closest to Sheriff Bronson Stone's house was a mere five minute walk away and was quite convenient in terms of location; there was a bench that sat there at the curb, although Double d didn't think it was specifically for the bus. After taking a seat and waiting for about 10 minutes or so, Double d was happy to finally see the bus turning down the street. The teen watched as the vehicle came to a stop right in front of him, releasing hydraulic-like hissing noises as it came to a complete stop. Making his way on the bus, which seemed to only have about 7 other students on it, Double d wandered to the very back of the vehicle and took a seat.

The ride itself wasn't too long, perhaps bordering between only 20 or 30 minutes, and Double d spent most of the time staring out of the window at the passing trees and buildings. The bus pulled into a small area on the outside of the school that was reserved for parked or returning buses; Double d watched as the driver slowly pulled into the area before completely stopping. Once again, the same hissing sound emanated from the vehicle as the doors flew open; following behind the other students, Double d swiftly exited the bus and made his way up to the building. Pulling his backpack to the side and opening it up, Double d shuffled around in the bag and eventually removed a yellow folder. Scanning through the contents in the folder, the teen took out a piece of paper and held it up in front of him.

PROGRAM INTRODUCTION: 8:30AM-9:00AM (AUDITORIUM)

_**CLASSES**_:

AP PHYSICS C: 9:10AM-11:10AM (R112)

CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL BIOLOGY_:_ 11:20AM-1:20PM (R115)

LUNCH: 1:20PM-2:00PM (CAFETERIA)

ABSRACT ALGEBRA 1: 2:10PM-4:10PM (R110)

DEBATE: 4:20PM-6:20PM (R210)

Double d scanned over the paper and headed inside the building, searching for the auditorium which was where the introductory assembly was meant to be conducted. The inside of the school building was quite clean and well-kept; the floor was spotless, the windows showed no evidence of scratches, and there weren't even any signs of students writing on the wall, which was something Double d was definitely used to in Peach creek.

Following the signs that hung from the ceiling indicating the locations of various rooms, Double d was finally able to find the entrance to the auditorium. Just above the door was a non-digital clock with black hands that were stationary and one red hand that moved by as the seconds passed. It was 8:20am. Pulling open the door, Double d walked into a large room with high walls that curved up into the ceiling, forming a dome-like shape; rows upon rows of audience seats were lined up together in front of a massive stage. Most of the seats were empty, but Double d could tell that there were some students huddled together in the center section of seats at the front; a few adults, who he could only assume were teachers or staff, walked around the room talking to each other.

Inching his way through the door and slowly walking down between the isles of seats, Double d looked around for a place to sit. As he scanned over the rows of occupied seats, Double d's attention was suddenly grasped by the sight of a student sitting rows behind the general group; almost immediately, he realized that it was the girl from last night who was a member of Mystery Incorporated – Velma. She sat quietly in the seat, isolated from the rest of the students, as she scanned the pages of a book she held in her hand.

Noticing that she was wearing the same orange sweater, Double d suddenly became slightly self-conscious with his own attire – after all, it's not like the school had a particular dress code. As he neared her position, the teen considered introducing himself to her – well, at least formally, due to the fact that the events of last night distracted from any introductions. Double d could feel his armpits start to sweat; he was usually not comfortable with approaching people by himself, let alone women.

Finally reaching the girl's seat and stopping next to her, the nervous Ed opened his mouth to speak.

"Uhhh, h-hello. Fancy seeing you here," he said, mentally cursing himself for not thinking of something better to say.

Looking up from her book, the girl turned her attention to the boy who stood awkwardly next to her; her eyes flashed of surprise behind the thick glasses as he spoke.

Initially, it seemed as though she didn't recognize him, but as she looked over his figure and at the features of his face she slowly gasped in surprise.

"Wait, aren't you the guy from yesterday? What are you doing here?" she asked as she glanced around the room, hoping she wasn't too loud.

"Oh, I'm a part of Crystal Cove High School's summer school program. I assume you are as well?" he said, taking a seat next to her.

"Yeah, I've been a part of the program for several years now, but I've never seen you here before. What school do you go to?" she asked with a slight smile.

Double d was relieved that she was polite; for some reason, he was expecting much more hostility.

"I attend a small school called 'Peach Creek High School', you probably haven't heard of it," he stated.

"hmmm, 'Peach Creek'…..no, sorry, I don't think I have," she said after taking a moment to think.

Double d nodded his head. Most people outside of Peach Creek have never even heard of the town, let alone the school.

"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself," the girl said as she turned to him, "my name's Velma. What's yours?" she asked.

"My name's Eddward, but my friends call me Double d," he said.

**End of Chapter 7**

Author's Note: _Soooooo, confession time. One of my main reasons for starting this story was basically because I wanted to get Double d and Velma together; it seemed like such an interesting character dynamic that I based a lot of the events on these two characters meeting. Although their relationship won't be the main focus of the story (necessarily), I'll probably spend quite a lot of time developing it – I'll also try to get all characters to form some kind of bond throughout this whole thing. Anyway, if you liked this chapter, you already know what to do: leave a comment. I can't believe I have to keep telling this to you guys!_


	8. Chapter 8: The Science Lab

**Chapter 8: The Science Lab**

The Introductory Program assembly lasted for approximately 30 minutes, but Velma and Double d would talk on and off all throughout the meeting. Velma seemed to be quite surprised by Double d's understanding of topics involving biology or chemistry; at one point in time, the two of them even discussed the possibility of stem cells being used in relation to human tissue growth and its application within the medical field. Finally, once the assembly ended, the two of them followed each other out into the hallway. The other students exited the auditorium as well and spilled out into the hall, taking their own paths to their designated morning classrooms.

Velma stopped and looked at Double d, a serious expression crossing her face.

"So, ummm," she began, although it was obvious that she hesitated to ask, "what do you think that creature was that we saw last night?"

Double d slightly tilted his head in thought, "I'm not 100% sure. There are a number of possible explanations that I can consider, and perhaps even more that I cannot consider."

"What do you mean?" Velma asked, genuinely confused.

"Well, what we saw last night was something quite extraordinary, so, it may be the case that the explanation could be equally as extraordinary. Personally, I would weigh on the side of the creature being the product of some genetic experiment, but I don't have enough evidence to back this theory up."

As he was explaining things, Velma was nodding her head in understanding; his points were rational and valid, and he seemed to be aware of the possibility that he could be wrong.

"What do you think it was?" Double d asked, returning the question.

"Given my experience with mystery solving, I've become pretty surprised by how many things can be solved by simply assuming that someone is wearing a mask and a costume," she said with a humorous smile.

"I guess that's fair," Double said with a chuckle, "although it's a shame that I forgot to take home the fur. In your line of work, it could probably function as a clue."

"actually…that reminds me," Velma said as she reached in her backpack and pulled out a zip lock bag that contained the patch of fur from last night.

As she held it up, Double d admired it, intrigued yet again by its existence.

"The school here has a science lab that they allow the students to use after school; it's usually only used for students who need to complete certain assignments, but I normally use it to examine the clues that I find," she explained as she carefully returned the zip lock bag into her backpack.

"Interesting," Double d whispered.

Suddenly the school bell rang, and Double d looked down nervously at his watch.

"I think that's the five minute bell," Velma said as she quickly slipped on her backpack, "I have to go, I'll see you later," she yelled as she hurriedly walked away.

"Bye!" Double d said as he waved his hand.

Taking one final glance at his watch, the beanie-wearing Ed quickly wandered down the hall in search of his first class. It wasn't that hard to find; nearly every wall in the building had a map of the school's layout. Entering a room with the label 'R112' on the outside of the door, Double d walked into the area and looked around; there were several students that glanced up at him as he entered while a few others seemed to be engaged in conversation. Taking the nearest open seat, Double d sat down and placed his backpack on top of the table as he slowly settled in. First, he made sure to take out his school supplies; his notebook, three pencils, an eraser, and a hand-held sharpener were the only things that adorned the surface of the table. True to Double d's nature, each of the items were labeled accordingly and he made sure to place them all neatly on the table; the three pencils were positioned exactly parallel to each other, and he made sure that the sharpener was on his right side while the notebook was on his left.

A few minutes later, the teacher finally arrived, and she immediately began to introduce herself and the future coursework related to the class. A few hours later, Double d looked at his schedule once more and searched for his next class; after finding it, he walked in and sat down just like the previous class. He repeated this process for the next several hours, walking in and out of classes, until finally the school day was over. Like most 'first day' classes, it was expected that the majority of the time would be devoted to talking about the overview of the class, the required materials, and a general understanding of how things would be graded.

Putting his things back into his bag as he packed up for the day, Double d wandered out into the hallway and headed for the school bus pick-up area; as he walked, his mind suddenly wandered to thinking about the science lab that Velma had talked about. Having access to a lab like that was something that he could only dream of, and considering the fact that it was open after general class times meant that he could work there undisturbed. Spotting a man who was coming down the hall, Double d stopped to ask him something.

"Excuse me, I hate to bother you, but could you point me to the after-school science lab?" he said politely.

The man, who was dressed up in janitorial gear, smiled softly at the boy, "sure thing. If you head down this hall and make a left, it will be on the right side with a large sign saying 'Lab' on it."

"Thank you very much," Double d said.

"No problem," the guy replied as the two of them went off in their own directions.

Following the man's instructions, Double d headed further down the hallway, making a swift left turn at the end; continuing on, he eventually saw a sign with the word 'LAB' on it in blue letters and approached the room. Walking up directly to the door, Double d cupped his hands together and placed them on the glass as he peered in; the room was practically empty, except for one lone person who stood at a table with her back to the door.

A small smile graced Double d's lips when he realized the person was Velma; it was such a relief to see someone he knew – or, at least someone he could talk to. Reaching down and turning the doorknob, he slowly entered the room, although he did his best not to interrupt her. She stood looking over the table into a microscope that was stationed on top of a protective mat.

"umm, Hey, how's it going?" he practically whispered.

Turning around, somewhat startled, Velma breathed a sigh of relief once she saw it was Double d.

"Hey, it's going ok. I just set everything up, and I was about to examine the fur sample," she informed as she adjusted the microscope a bit more.

"I'm surprised you stayed around," she continued without looking at him, "most people tend to leave at about this time."

"I suppose that's true, but I wanted to see the lab first. My school doesn't really have anything like this, so I was just curious," he responded.

Walking around to the other side of the table, Double d placed his backpack on its surface and glanced at what Velma was doing.

She seemed to be completely focused with the activity as she used a pair of tweezers to place a single follicle of fur into a plastic dish that sat under the microscope. Turning on the light underneath the machine, she moved her head towards the lenses and peered in through the microscope. Double d watched her with a sense of intrigue and wonder; of course it was the case that as a member of Mystery Incorporated, she had probably seen some really weird things in her life.

The events that occurred last night mustn't have been too jarring for her, but Double d had been internally freaking out over everything since it happened – yet she seemed to be quite calm. Nothing made sense: the existence of the creature was unexplainable, the fact that the gang hadn't seen it at all when they were in the house was just as strange, and even the way the whole thing started seemed fishy.

"You said that you guys were sent a letter that had a phone number on it, right?" Double d suddenly asked, causing Velma to look up from the microscope.

"Yeah. Why?" she said.

"Well, does that usually happen? I mean, I would assume that most people would contact you by calling you directly," he stated, looking up at a strange expression that crossed Velma's face.

"N-nevermind. Sorry I asked," he muttered, slightly embarrassed by how conspiracy-ridden his thoughts were.

"No, no, it's fine," she suddenly said, "actually, I've had that exact same thought before. The letter literally showed up out of nowhere, and I've been wondering why someone would use such a weird way to contact us."

Feeling more emboldened by Velma's words, Double d continued to speak, "I'm not really used to mystery solving like you guys, but I would think it's quite strange for such a letter to be sent to you. You even said that it contained more than just a phone number, right?"

Velma nodded, immediately reaching in her bag and pulling out a small slip of paper. Without hesitation, she handed it to him – the letter was the same as she had described; it said:

(488) 494 – 45

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

DSA:

16-22-2_18-8_26_24-15-6-22

Double d looked down at the piece of paper, deep in thought; scanning the words and numbers that graced the paper, he mulled over the possible meanings behind each of them. His thoughts became muddled with thousands of possibilities, '_what are these? What do they mean? Why would someone send this instead of just calling?'_

Velma quietly stood next to Double d, forming questions of her own as she looked down at the paper in his hand. Their thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Double d's phone buzzing in his pocket. Pulling out the device as it continued to ring, Double d saw the caller ID was 'Eddy' and clicked the accept button as he held it up to his ear.

"Hello, Eddy," Double d greeted.

"Double….d….help...held….we're….at…..house...me and Ed….there….now we're trapped!," the voice on the other end of the phone said. The words were incredibly difficult to understand due to static, and for some reason they sounded off pitch as well. Despite the vocal alterations, Double d could still tell that it was Eddy, but his voice sounded much more slowed down.

"Eddy? Eddy, are you ok? Where are you?" he asked, becoming increasingly more concerned.

"We're at….the house….last night," Eddy's voice replied.

"The house?" Double d asked himself, not quite sure what that meant.

"I think they're at the house from last night," Velma commented helpfully.

"Hurry!-" the voice said before the phone connection was suddenly cut off.

Double d continued to stare down at the phone in silence, obviously unsettled by the nature of the call. If it was true that his friends were in some kind of danger in that house, it was impossible for Double d to get there; he didn't have a car, and the only form of transportation he could access was a school bus, but the house wasn't near any dropoff point. What could he possibly do? He was completely useless.

Velma must've understood what he was thinking because she immediately spoke up.

"You can come with me, the gang is coming to pick me up soon anyway; I can ask Fred if he's willing to drive you there," she suggested.

"Really? T-thank you!" Double d exclaimed with appreciation evident in his voice.

"No problem. You should pack up your bag. They'll be here any minute," she said.

Listening to her instructions, Double d picked up his backpack and followed her out the door and down the hall.

**End of Chapter 8**

Author's Note: _There are a few things that I'm really excited to incorporate into the story but that i'm not sure how to write; one of these things are the clues throughout the story, especially the note with all those numbers and letters - believe it or not, it's an actual code. Leave a comment if you think you know how to solve it, but keep in mind there may be future discoveries in the story that may add to it. _


	9. Chapter 9: Back to the House

**Chapter 9: Back to the House**

Double d's heart was racing, but his body somehow managed to keep up with Velma down the hall; after a series of turns, the two teens finally headed out of the building through the front entrance. The time was now 6:40 pm, so the sun had practically gone down and the atmosphere was now beginning to become cooler; Double d's throat was dry, but that was mainly due to his nervousness instead of the nature of the outside elements. Double d and Velma walked out into an open parking lot and scanned the stationary cars.

"There they are!" she said as she pointed to a vehicle that wall pulling into the lot.

The vehicle was the same one from the night before – it was the Mystery Machine; the unique colors and designs of the van made it clearly identifiable. It slowly moved through the lanes of parked cars and worked its way next to the curb as it eventually parked in front of the two teens.

"Hey, Velms," Fred greeted as he stuck his head out of the car window, "and hey….other dude."

Double d's eyebrows slightly raised upon realizing Fred hadn't recognized him – perhaps it was the clothes. Velma quickly approached the van and opened the back doors as she beckoned for Double d to hop in. Immediately nodding in understanding, the smart Ed made his way into the back of the Mystery Machine. Upon entering, Double d saw Velma talking to Fred, probably telling him the situation.

"Ok, got it," he said, firmly gripping the wheel, "Buckle up, gang. We're gonna be burning some rubber."

Stepping on the gas, Fred turned the steering wheel as the tires bellow the van screeched upon the sudden acceleration. The sound of the motor filled the entirety of the vehicle, causing Double to sweat nervously as he realized that the van he was in might not be the safest place in the world.

Roaring back onto the street, the Mystery Machine sped down the road, zooming past the houses and trees that were on either side of it. As the van took a sudden left turn, Double d felt his body fly to the other side of the vehicle and smash into the window. Rubbing his nose from the impact, Double d was unprepared for the van to make yet another swift turn down a separate road. This time falling backwards, the beanie-wearing teen let out a yell as he fell to the floor. Velma watched the curious boy being flung around the van, and she couldn't help but let out a slight giggle. Grabbing his hand, the orange sweater-wearing girl helped Double d stand back up.

"You should probably hold onto something," she shouted over the roar of the motor.

"Oh, Ok," Double d shouted back as he glanced around the vehicle.

Grabbing one of the van's door handles, the nerdy teen hung on for dear life as the Mystery Machine continued to speed down the street.

"How much longer?" Velma asked.

"Not long. Maybe about 3 more minutes or so," Fred replied without taking his eyes off the road.

'Three more minutes of this?' Double d thought to himself, 'I'll probably be dead by then.'

The three minutes seemed to move along almost as fast as the van did, eventually ending as the Mystery Machine neared the same cul-de-sac from the night before. The foreboding feeling was still present as he got out of the vehicle, but he didn't have time to worry about that. Quickly rushing to the gate, which had remained opened since the events prior, Double ran all the way up to the front porch. Gripping the door handle and jiggling it desperately, the teen's heart practically sunk upon realizing that it was locked; Velma immediately arrived right beside him, giving him a questioning look as to why he hadn't opened the door yet.

"It's locked," he informed.

Thinking quickly, the turtle-neck wearing girl quickly returned to the van; grabbing her bag from the back, she dug through its contents until she found what she was looking for. Holding the rusty key in her hand, Velma ran back to the front door beside an anxious-looking Double d. After immediately jamming the small, metallic object into the key-hole, she turned it and listed to the sound of the old locking mechanisms beyond the entrance. Pushing the door open, Double d was the first one to rush in.

"Ed? Eddy?!" he called, to which no one answered.

Rushing around a corner to enter into the living room, Double d let out a horrified gasp as he felt a rough hand on his shoulder.

"BOO!" screamed a voice from right behind him, causing him to jump up with a shriek.

Turning around, obviously quite rattled, the teen's eyes widened upon seeing a joyous Eddy snickering at him from atop a table.

"Hehehe. You should see the look on your face," the short teen giggled to himself as he pointed at the astonished face of Double d.

"Eddy…what are you doing?" he asked, catching his breath.

"What? I'm just having a little fun," Eddy protested, jumping down from the table.

Looking around, doing his best to ignore the continuous beating of his heart, Double d noticed he didn't see Ed anywhere.

"Where's Ed?" he asked.

"Alright, Ed, you can come out now. Sockhead fell for it," Eddy yelled.

In response, something further in the room began to move; Ed revealed his face after removing a lamp cover from on top of his head. Double d practically smacked himself in the face for not spotting him soon; Ed had apparently been standing in plane sight the whole time, simply concealing himself with a lamp cover.

"Yaay! We got him good, right Eddy?" the smiling Ed bellowed as he walked over to the two of them.

"Yep, we sure did," Eddy responded, giving Double d a victorious grin.

The beanie-wearing teen let out a large sigh; one, because he was relieved his friends were safe, and two, because he hated it when he was the butt of one of Eddy's pranks.

"Eddy, did you truly call me here simply to embarrass me?" Double d groaned.

"Nope. That was just an added bonus," the short Ed said as he hobbled over to something else in the room.

Stopping next to an object that was completely covered by a white sheet, Eddy grabbed a hold of the dangling ends of the material as he yanked on it. Pulling the sheet off, with a rather unintended flare, the three Eds stared up at a large, golden sculpture that stood before them. The figure, in it of itself, was a physical depiction of a woman; she wore a robe-like dress that flowed down to the base of the sculpture and spread out at the floor. Her arms were held out in front of her with her palms cupped together as she looked straight ahead; her eyes appeared neutral, yet there was a sense of knowledge and wisdom that flowed in them. The overall figure slightly glistened with a golden shimmer as the dim lights landed on its surface.

"Ummm, Eddy, what is this?" Double d questioned, walking a bit closer to the sculpture.

"No idea. But it's pretty cool, right? Just give me an estimate; how much do you think we could sell this for on the market?" Eddy asked.

Turning his head immediately in Eddy's direction, Double d gave his friend a worried look.

"Eddy, you're not planning on taking this and selling it, are you?" he asked, although he was admittedly scared of the answer.

"Double d, I'm appalled that you would even think such a thing," Eddy expressed with fake offense, "I'M not gonna take this thing, you got it all wrong. WE'RE gonna take this thing. Now, come on, help me move it."

Double d was so shocked that he couldn't say anything, however, thanks to the girl behind him, he didn't have to.

"What are you doing?" Velma asked as she walked into the room.

Eddy flinched at the sudden voice that seemingly came out of nowhere; turning his attention to the girl wearing the orange sweater, he simply stared at her, like a dear caught in headlights.

"Uhhh….yeah, Double d, what do you think you're doing?" Eddy said, giving his smart friend a scolding look.

Velma, who was obviously not swayed by Eddy's antics, continued to talk as she approached them.

"You do know that breaking into someone's house and removing any items that don't belong to you is 'theft', right?" she demanded, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Oh yeah?" Eddy retorted after realizing she wouldn't fall for anything he could think of, "well, who says we're here to take anything. Maybe we're just here to look around."

"You do realize that's still 'breaking and entering'?" she said.

"Oh, uhhhhh….sorry?" Eddy apologized, disliking where this conversation was headed.

Velma let out a huff as she walked over to the short Ed and demandingly held out her hand. Hesitantly, Eddy handed her the white sheet he was still holding and watched as she draped it back over the golden sculpture, hiding it from view once again.

As she was busy covering the object, the sound of several people entering the house filled the room; Fred's voice was the first one to sound off.

"Hey, Velm, what's taking so long?" he asked upon walking into the room.

With a sigh, Velma turned to the blonde teen, "It looks like they're ok. At least they weren't getting eaten or anything."

"Like, that sounds like good news to me," Shaggy stated with a chuckle.

"I'm sorry for making you rush over here so needlessly," Double d sincerely apologized. He was quite thankful to the gang for giving him a ride – it's not like they were under any obligation to help him, but they did it anyway.

"No problem," Fred said as he held a thumbs up.

"How did you guys even get in here?" Velma asked suddenly, turning to Eddy and Ed.

"The door was open," Ed noted with an innocent smile.

"Y-yeah, the door was already open, so how is it 'breaking and entering' then, huh?" Eddy said confidently, hoping that it was enough to get him off the hook.

Velma pinched the bridge of her nose in slight annoyance, "No, that's not how it works. You made the conscious decision to enter onto someone else's private property. Just because the door was open doesn't mean you didn't break the law."

Double d remained quiet as the glasses-wearing teen spoke, but there was something that was strange to him, he just couldn't quite put his finger on it - wait! What did they just say? The door was open when they first arrived?

"Wait a minute," the beanie-wearing teen mumbled, causing everyone else to look at him.

"You guys said the door was open when you first got here, right? Did you lock it once you entered the house?" he asked.

"What? No. Why would we lock the door if we were gonna leave anyway? That's stupid," the short Ed noted.

Double d's eye brows lowered in thought upon hearing this. That's impossible.

"Wait, so if you guys didn't lock the door," he said as he slowly raised his voice, "then why was the door locked when we arrived?"

Eddy cocked his head to the side, "Huh? The door was locked?"

A sudden and very concerned expression appeared on Velma's face as well; she hadn't even thought of that. He was right, though – why was the front door locked if neither Ed nor Eddy locked it. Chills ran through her body as she considered all of the possible scenarios; glancing at Double d, the two of them met each other's eyes with an equal amount of worry – they had both come to the same conclusion.

"If you guys didn't lock the door," Velma began with a gulp, "then that must mean…."

"That there was someone else here in this house," Double d finished.

"And that's not all," Double d continued, "whoever locked the door, had to have been here AFTER you guys got here and BEFORE we arrived. So, it's possible…"

"Someone might still be here in this house," Velma concluded with a look of slight fear.

With that in mind, the group of teens anxiously peered all around them, the eerie silence of the house filling the room.

**End of Chapter 9**

Author's Note: _Well, well, well. It looks like this story is picking up a little steam; I guess this is where things start getting more creepy, hehehe. I absolutely loved how I ended this chapter; I feel like it was a good use of tension on my part. *gives self a pat on the back* Although this chapter didn't have too many clues attached to it, I will try to add much more to the next one. Please let me know if you liked this chapter at all. However, let it be known that if you say it sucked, I will probably throw myself into the nearest garbage can and cry myself to sleep. Thank you!_


	10. Chapter 10: Lost Time

**Chapter 10: Lost Time**

The past few minutes were full of nervous inspection as the gang and the Eds looked through the rest of the house; even though it was likely that whoever had locked the door probably left, the teens still agreed to check the building just in case. Velma and Double d were the most troubled, and they regarded the situation as potentially dangerous if there was someone who remained in the house. However, in the end, none of them could find even a clue to the idea that someone remained in the mansion.

Double d was still convinced that a mysterious individual had been in the house, so the lack of any evidence was arguably more concerning than finding legitimate clues. Velma agreed with him, but the two of them concluded that they wouldn't find anything further in the house, so the group decided to leave. Walking down the steps of the house as they exited the mansion, the group of teens quietly traversed across the front lawn as they headed toward the parked van.

The group filed into the vehicle, Fred and Daphne entered the two front seats while the rest of the group climbed into the back space of the van. As he turned the key in the ignition, Fred placed his hands on the driver's wheel and proceeded to leave the cul-de-sac once again.

Eddy and Double both sighed as they watched the mansion slowly wane into the distance; the past 20 minutes had been nerve-wrecking to say the least, and it was even worse given the fact that they didn't find anything.

"Hey, Sockhead," Eddy began, garnering Double d's attention, "Why'd you have to bring these guys with you? If they weren't there, we could've been turning in that statue right now for some serious cash."

"Well, excuse me, Eddy, for worrying about my friends," Double d said defensively, "I can't drive, so it only made sense to get a ride from somebody!"

Eddy bit the inside of his lip in irritation, "Yeah, whatever."

"Geez, what time is it anyway? If we get home late, Mr. Bronson surely won't be happy," Double d said nervously.

"Hang on," Eddy said with a sigh, taking out his phone from his back pocket, "It's 9:37pm," he informed upon glancing at the digital numbers that adorned his screen.

"Good Lord!" Double d exclaimed, "It's worse than I thought."

Placing his face in his open hands, Double d lowered his head as Ed patted him on the back in an attempt to sooth him.

"Yeah, 9:30pm is pretty rough," Velma stated, "I'm sure even my parents will-"

Her words stopped as she glanced down at her own phone; there, on the screen, read: 8:55pm.

"Hey, I thought you said it was 9," she said, turning to Eddy.

"What do you mean? It IS 9," he returned, giving her an angry look as he shoved his phone in her face.

He was right; the phone read 9:37pm, not a minute off from his initial claim.

Glancing over at Double d, she tapped him on the shoulder, "Could I see your phone?" she asked.

Double d, still stressing over how mad Sheriff Bronson would be, didn't even give it a second thought as he handed his device over to Velma. Turning the phone on, she stared down at the numbers that read: 8:55 pm, the same as her phone said.

"Hey, Fred," she called out to the driver.

"What's up?" he replied.

"What time do you have on the dashboard?" she wondered, although she was sure she was just looking for something that wasn't there.

"Uhhh, it says…8:55. Why?" he answered.

By this point in time, Double d had looked up and stared at Velma, he was starting to become interested in what she was doing. The time on Eddy's phone was off by approximately 42 minutes – a very strange and random deviation from the other devices.

"Ummm. Ed, do you still have that watch that your mother gave you?" Double d asked.

Before the three of them had gotten on the plane to California, Ed's mother had given him a small watch so that he could "keep track of time" (whatever that means).

"Of course I do, Double d!" the large Ed bellowed as he pulled a small contraption from his pocket.

It was a wrist watch, but of course Ed never figured out how to put it on his wrist so he usually kept it in his pocket. Double d held out his hand as Ed placed the watch in the center of his palm; it was warm and covered in a combination of chewed gum and lint, but Double d didn't even want to ask why. Glancing down at the time that was displayed on the device, his eyes widened as he read the numbers: 9:37 pm in green digital characters.

Passing it over to Velma, he witnessed the same surprise adorn her face, and the two of them simply glanced at each other in silence. Neither of them spoke, but they both knew what the other was thinking.

"Hey, what's the matter with you two?" Eddy asked, noticing the weird looks they gave one another.

"Eddy, how long were you in that mansion for?" Double d cautiously asked.

"Huh? Not too long, maybe like 5 minutes or something like that," he answered, confused why Double d was asking such a question.

"Even the time before we arrived at the house?" Velma stepped in.

Eddy, feeling a bit threatened by the sudden questions, blurted out, "Look, what is your guys' problem? I called Double d because I thought it would be funny and I knew he would get to the house as fast as he could. After I called, we waited like 2 or 3 minutes until you guys got here. That's it! Now will you stop interrogating me?"

"2 or 3 minutes…" Double d repeated aloud, although the statement was more for himself than anyone else. That just wasn't possible – it sounded like such a short period of time. From the time he got the call, to the time he got into the Mystery Machine, to the time they drove over to the house, and even the time it took to unlock the door – it was far longer than just a simple 2 or 3 minutes. Perhaps the drive itself was that long, but the time to run from the laboratory after the call to the parking lot was at least 2 minutes. The combination of getting into the vehicle, driving to the house, and working to unlock the door had to have been around 6 or 7 minutes, at least. So, in total, the time it took to get to the house from that laboratory was more around 8 to 10 minutes – how was it possible that Eddy experienced only 2 or 3 minutes of that time. This didn't make any sense.

"Eddy," Double d began, wondering if telling his friend was even worth it, "It didn't take me just 2 or 3 minutes to get to the house. It was closer 6 or 7 minutes."

Eddy lifted an eyebrow in confusion, "Huh? Well, it didn't feel like it."

"Eddy, are you aware that the time on you're phone is 42 minutes behind the current time?" he asked.

The short Ed rolled his eyes and gave Double d a dismissive glance, "So? It's not my fault you're phones are all broken."

"Two of our phones and the Van's internal clock all read the same time; however, you and Ed both seem to have vastly different times," Double d continued, hoping to convince Eddy of the situation's severity.

"Ok, so maybe MY phone is the one that's broken. Big whop, I'll get it fixed," he said.

"Eddy, your phone isn't broken; otherwise, Ed's watch wouldn't be at the EXACT same time as yours – unless his also broke as the same time – which is still highly improbable," Double d desperately explained.

Eddy rolled his eyes once again, signaling that he wanted this conversation to be over.

"You're all overreacting," he groaned.

Double d opened his mouth to respond but decided against it; after all, they could have this conversation at home if need be.

As the Mystery Machine made its way down the bleak street, the teens began to settle down to a comfortable silence; Fred and Daphne were the only two in the vehicle who would whisper to each other back and fourth through the quiet atmosphere. Shaggy was busy petting Scooby on the head while the canine happily panted beneath the attention and Velma had pulled out a laptop to carefully type on the keys. Ed, despite the bumpiness of the ride, had fallen asleep and leaned against the inside of the vehicle with a small river of saliva running from the corner of his mouth. Eddy rested his head in the crux of his left palm while the other hand busied itself with the screen of his phone – probably playing a video game. Double d sat silently in the corner of the van with his arms placed neatly in his lap, sitting cross-legged; his eyes lazily stared up at the ceiling of the van, pondering the events of the past few hours.

His mind was still distracted by the strange time difference between he and his friends, but he could he feel his thoughts begin to slow down until they became muddled with the concerns of an average teenager – things like school and homework were of the most important to him now. Recognizing the street that Fred turned down, Double d heard Eddy let out a sigh as they approached Sheriff Bronson's house and parked in front of the driveway.

Popping the back doors open, the three Eds made their way out of the Mystery Machine, although Double d and Eddy first had to wake Ed beforehand.

"Thank you once again for the ride," Double d called out to Fred.

The blonde driver stuck his hand out of the side window to give the teen a wave, "No problem. If you ever need a ride again, let us know."

Double d felt the need to thank him once again, but the realization that this might've been somewhat annoying was what made him stay silent and give the gang a smile. As the van started up again, the engine roared and it sped down the street until it turned a corner and disappeared out of sight. Double d's eyes continued to linger on the disserted road like he was expecting the vehicle to return, but his attention was ripped from the street upon feeling a hand on his shoulder. Glancing over to a worried looking Ed, Double d gave a weak yet comforting smile to his large friend. They didn't say any words, but the meaning was clear; turning around and heading toward the front door, the three of them procured a key from beneath the welcome matt and wandered inside.

Almost in silence, the three of them mindlessly moved through the motions of getting ready for bed; brushing their teeth, getting in more comfortable clothes, and climbing into their respective beds didn't take too long. It was only until he pulled the covers over him did Double d become conscious of the fact that they hadn't run into Sheriff Bronson when they entered the house – thank goodness. Double d was surprised at this but decided not to dwell on it, so he quickly excused these thoughts and turned to shut off the lamp light next to him. Pulling on the string to replace the light with darkness, he weighed his head back against the pillow and thought one final thing:

_Where had the time gone?_

**End of Chapter 10**

Author's Note: _Hey, guys, how did you like this chapter? I wrote this with the purpose of adding a few clues, or mystery elements, to the story. I hope to be able to link a lot of these clues together in later chapters, but I also wanted to strengthen the relationship between the gang and the Eds. Anyway, if you liked this chapter, solve this puzzle:_

_if 321546 = mocnet; then what does 1233456 = ?_


	11. Chapter 11: Secrets in the Kitchen

**Chapter 11: Secrets in the Kitchen**

In the morning, now that the sun had finally peeked into the relatively hidden bedroom, Eddy begrudgingly opened his crusted eyes; his vision was largely hazy and his pupils sluggishly darted around at the white walls. Fighting against the urge to simply pull the covers back over him and drift off into the world of dreams once more, the small Ed lifted his head upon hearing a rustling in the closet beside him.

Next to him, Double d was calmly shuffling through the contents of his clothes for school; Eddy sighed and rubbed his eyes as he sat up in bed.

"What time is it?" he asked, causing a startled Double d to look over at him.

"Oh, it seems that you have awakened from your blissful slumber; quite prematurely I might add," he quipped, pulling out a folded article of clothing. "It is unusual for you to be up this early."

"What time is it?" Eddy repeated, unaware of exactly what Double d had said.

"It's 8:15 am," the smart teen replied with a slight grin.

Sitting up, significantly more awake now, Eddy peered over the side of the bed down at a sleeping Ed, who didn't look the least bit disturbed.

"Geez. This freakin' guy could sleep for days on end if nobody woke him up," Eddy said, ending with a chuckle.

Following Eddy's gaze down to Ed, Double d couldn't help but smile as well.

"I must concur, Eddy," he began, "Ed's threshold for most stimuli is quite high. I doubt he would wake up without outside intervention."

Eddy didn't catch everything that his friend said, but he knew that it was meant to be a joke. Letting out a short laugh, Eddy then watched as Double d pilled the articles of clothing on top of one another, folding them across his arm.

"Doesn't your school start at like 7:00am, or somethin'? You're a little late," Eddy pointed out as he slid himself off the side of the bed and onto the floor.

"I'm touched that you have taken such an invested interest in my academic performance, Eddy; however, I only woke up early the first day due to the program introduction – now, all of the classes begin at 9:15am."

"…still kind of early," the short Ed muttered to himself as he headed to the door.

Exiting the room, he walked out into the open space of the Living Room that led to the empty kitchen; Sheriff Bronson had either already left the house or he was still asleep in his own room, assuming that he even came home last night at all. Heading straight for the refrigerator, Eddy mindlessly opened the door of the fridge and scanned the food items that lined the shelves within. The first thing he noticed, and something that he was thankful for, was that Sheriff Bronson apparently really liked meat – there were at least seven different kinds of meat that decorated the inside of the refrigerator. There were also some containers full of fruits and vegetables – strawberries, lettuce, blueberries, and a few more - were pushed to the back of the fridge, as though they had been forgotten.

Small, cylindrical cans of beer sat on the inside of the door, along with lonely pickle jars and solitary ketchup packets. For a short moment, Eddy wondered if Sheriff Bronson would recognize one less beer in his fridge. The answer was 'yes, he would probably find out' - so Eddy decided against it. Underage drinking being illegal really sucked.

Reaching for a bag of bread, he took out two slices and gently placed them into a white toaster that sat on the counter beside him. Waiting for the machine to do its work, he then leaned on the nearby countertop and needlessly peered around the room.

Sheriff Bronson wasn't one for decorating, which was obvious given the overall emptiness of the walls and lack of attention to aesthetics; the only object that most closely acted like decor was a framed mirror that was positioned directly to the left of the refrigerator. The ornate intricacies that were inscribed into the golden color of the frame seemed to betray the blankness of the mirror itself – it looked….off.

'Hey, to each his own,' Eddy thought to himself with a shrug. It definitely wouldn't have been his first choice.

The spring-like sound of the bread resurfacing from the chambers in the toaster attracted Eddy's attention once more; going through the cabinets in search of a plate, the short teen was happy to find a thin, blue saucer. Placing the toast on the plate, he then retrieved an entire bar of butter from the refrigerator; pulling out a relatively dull knife, Eddy spread some butter over the surface of the bread with a rushed sense of hunger.

It was a bit nice – not having to listen to parents telling you what to eat – that was the definition of freedom. Allowing the butter to fully melt into the texture of the toast, Eddy then stuck his head into the fridge once again, looking for something to drink. Surprisingly, there wasn't much to offer in terms of drinks; granted, there was some water at the bottom along with small containers of white wine.

"Doesn't this dude have any milk? Sheesh. I'd even go for some orange juice at this point," he mumbled to himself in annoyance.

As he carefully rummaged around through the refrigerator, Double d emerged from the bedroom fully clothed; like last time, he wore school-appropriate attire that was very different from his standard look. Walking past the kitchen on his way to the front door, he looked over at a cursing Eddy who angrily looked through the fridge; Double d was aware that Sheriff Bronson didn't care if they took whatever food they needed, but under principle, he didn't like the idea of simply taking what wasn't his. He was glad Eddy was enjoying himself, though.

"Alright, Eddy, I'll be leaving in a few minutes," he said after greeting the short Ed, "Please…make sure that you don't do anything irresponsible while I'm gone."

"'Irresponsible?'" Eddy questioned without removing his eyes from within the fridge, "Do I look like the type of person who's 'irresponsible'?" he said, with the term 'irresponsible' in air-quotes.

Double d had to bite his tongue to keep himself from outright saying 'yes'. Instead, he just met his friend with a short, yet unsure nod before returning to the bedroom to retrieve his backpack. After emerging from the room once again, he said his goodbyes to Eddy as he headed out the door.

Relatively unaffected by the departure of his friend, Eddy continued to sift through the random items that filled the space within the refrigerator; it took a few more minutes until he finally gave up, believing the only drinks there were water and wine – two of the worst possible choices. Given the fact that he couldn't exactly take some of the beer without Bronson noticing was really what disappointed Eddy the most, so in the end he decided to pour himself a glass of water.

Dejectedly, he held the cup full of water in his left hand and picked up the plate of toast with his right. As he turned around, he was startled by someone's voice directly next to his ear.

"MORNING EDDY!" Ed screamed, causing his short friend to stumble away in fright.

The events of the next few seconds passed almost in slow motion, with Eddy losing his balance and falling against the wall, and Ed keeping his happy-go-lucky expression all the way through. Losing his hold of the plate and the glass, Eddy spread out his arms in an attempt to catch himself before he hit anything – but it was already too late. The sound of shattering glass erupted throughout the house as Eddy slammed against a wall and fell to the ground. Looking around, his face turned a sickly white as he laid his eyes upon the framed mirror to the left of the refrigerator that had now been shattered. It may have just been decoration, but Eddy knew the Sheriff would still be mad…really mad.

His remained frozen, staring down at the result of his clumsiness, or rather, Ed's sudden intrusion of personal space; glass shards now laid motionlessly on the tile ground, fallen from the golden frame. Slowly lifting himself off of the floor, Eddy swallowed with an inherent sense of nervousness – this was bad.

"Blockhead! What the hell did you do that for?!" Eddy demanded, turning his rage onto an unsuspecting Ed.

"S-sorry, Eddy. I just wanted to tell you 'good morning'," Ed murmured with a newfound understanding of the situation.

"Idiot. Don't you know not to sneak up on people and just randomly yell at them? What's wrong with you?" he returned.

"Sorry, Eddy," Ed tried once more.

The short teen let a low moan escape his lips to express his irritation as he turned to examine the mess of fractured glass. Eddy's heart was pounding; he wasn't particularly excited to inform Sheriff Bronson that his golden framed mirror had been broken due to an 'accident'. Nervously scratching the back of his head as he paced back and forth across the floor, Eddy quickly tried to come up with something – anything to soften the inevitable blow of Bronson's rage.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap," he repeated feverishly as his pacing quickened.

Would Bronson accept the whole '_this was an accident'_ excuse? Or maybe '_it was Ed's fault_' was even better – no, no, no….how about '_aliens came down suddenly and tried to attack them, but in order to survive the lasers, they had to use the mirror'_…ok, that can go in the 'maybe' file.

While Eddy's mind was racing and his back-and-forth pacing started to get more and more frantic, he didn't even realize that Ed had long since approached the now broken golden frame and was curiously examining the object. A few smaller shards of broken glass still remained alongside the innermost edges of the frame, their jagged shapes denoting a dangerously sharp addition to the mess. Gently gripping the side of the golden metal, Ed's mouth remained agape in wonder as he pushed the broken mirror to the right. Rotating along the pin that kept it against the wall, the mirror frame moved to reveal a dark area beyond the surface of the wall itself. It was a hole, or more specifically – a square-shaped chamber. Although it was quite small, much too small to hide anything of significant value, it still seemed as though its purpose was definitely to conceal something from view.

"Eddy, look at this," Ed hummed aloud, turning to his still nervous friend.

Eddy turned his head, "What do you want, blockhead?" he growled. He was much too irritated to calmly respond to his larger friend.

"Eddy, look," Ed repeated once more.

"WHAT?!" Eddy screamed, finally turning his attention whole-heartedly to the flinching Ed. The pitch of his voice carried throughout the house as his shout echoed away from the kitchen.

"Uhhh,…l-look," Ed responded, now feeling a bit diminished in size.

Eddy's head shot up to where Ed was gesturing but he kept his angry expression to further prove his rage. Examining the small, box-shaped compartment in the wall, Eddy's face slightly softened as he stared at the chamber with relative intrigue. Taking a step closer, causing Ed to move out of the way, Eddy tilted his head and narrowed his eyes in obvious confusion.

"What is this?" he asked, although it was more to himself than Ed.

The big oaf still decided to answer, "It's a hole, Eddy."

"Yeah, good observation, blockhead," Eddy sarcastically said with a frown.

"What's it for?" he continued, this time not bothered at all by Ed's response.

"Maybe it's where keeps his 'special stuff'," the large Ed boy posited.

Over the years, Eddy had come to realize that when Ed said 'special stuff', he was really just referring to things that people valued. For instance, Eddy's 'special stuff' was money, Ed's 'special stuff' was comics, and Double d's 'special stuff' was books.

Eddy put a finger on his chin as he thought quietly to himself; technically, Ed might be right – although in a somewhat elementary way. Most adults usually had places where they would stash and hide valuable things, things that they didn't want anyone to take. In some houses, the adult would even hide their money in safes….is that what this was? A safe?

Curious, Eddy reached his hand into the chamber as he peered down into the compartment, looking for anything that could possibly be worthwhile. The inside of the chamber was full of a variety of items, the majority of which didn't concern Eddy in the least. Near the front of the chamber were brown, woven bags that were made of thick nit materials; they were tied at the end by red, ribbon-like strings that wrapped tightly around the top. To the right, but still at the front of the compartment, there was a small, black box, the contents of which were a mystery to Eddy. Finally, at the back end, practically touching the wall, was a medium-sized chest that had an obvious lock mechanism along the outer lip of the lid – it probably needed a key to be opened.

As Eddy quietly inspected the items, his heart jumped upon hearing the garage slowly open up from beyond the door - Sheriff Bronson had come home.

**End of Chapter 11**

_Author's Note: Hey, everyone! I know I didn't mention this in the last chapter, but i'll say it now. If you follow my profile at all, you'll know that the biggest story I have going on right now is the __Avatar: Last Airbender & Toaru Majutsu no Index crossover, titled "Accelerator: The Last Esper"__. Due to this, the majority of my creative focus has been on continuing that storyline, so I haven't had as much time to work on some of the other stories I had going on - even the ones I really wanted to work on. Hopefully, I'll have more time in the coming future to work on some other stuff, but just know that I will still probably be working on my bigger stories._

_P.S:_ _Comment, just comment. Even something as simple as "Hi" or "You suck" would be appreciated. Thanks!_


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